Hot finance topics

The chief executive of St. Louis University Hospital says that his health system is seeking the assistance of a third-party mediator to break an impasse in contract talks with a national health insurer.
SLU Hospital Chief Executive Phillip Sowa said the hospital’s parent company, Tenet HealthCare Corp. of Dallas, faxed a letter Friday to Anthem Blue Cross and […]

German authorities say a piece of mail sent to Deutsche Bank chief Josef Ackermann was a fully functional letter bomb capable of exploding.
German prosecutors and police in Hesse state said in a joint statement that a suspicious letter addressed personally to Ackermann and intercepted at the mail room of the bank’s Frankfurt headquarters on Wednesday […]

China’s attempts to deflate its property bubble come at a perilous time.
Fears that the euro might collapse, unleashing a tsunami of financial and economic disruptions around the globe, have added urgency to concerns that China’s campaign to cool overheated housing prices may go too far.
As economic growth wanes, Beijing has begun easing tight credit policies […]

Carl Icahn said Monday that he wants to buy Commercial Metals Co. for about $1.73 billion and combine parts of it with metals recycling businesses that he already owns.
The billionaire investor, who already owns almost 10 percent of Commercial Metals, said he also plans to nominate three of his associates to be directors on its […]

Four people have been arrested in the Philippines for allegedly hacking into AT&T’s phone systems as part of a plan to funnel money to a Saudi-based terror group, according to police.
The Philippine Criminal Investigation and Detection Group said it worked with the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation to arrest the suspects late Thursday. The hackers, […]

The investigation into a bullet train crash in China last summer that killed 40 people has come and gone with scarcely any fresh information released about what led to the disaster.
The secrecy surrounding the investigator’s report, originally due in September and reportedly extended until late November, is typical of the sensitivities shown toward wider troubles […]

A U.S.-backed plan to forge a Pacific free trade bloc got a big boost Sunday when leaders of Canada and Mexico joined Japan in expressing support for a deal that has received a cool reception from China, the region’s rising power.
The news was a coup for President Barack Obama, who made progress on the pact […]

Greek lawmakers geared up for a crucial confidence vote in the beleaguered Socialist government Friday, as both main parties floated plans to approve a massive European bailout and call new elections.
A week of political drama has horrified the indebted country’s European partners and overshadowed the Group of 20 summit in the French resort of Cannes. […]

The Missouri Legislature has acquired a do-nothing reputation lately, but you won’t hear folks in the biotechnology industry applying that label.
Legislators passed only two bills during their fall special session, but one of them was the Missouri Science and Innovation Research Act, a longtime priority for local technology boosters. MOSIRA sets up a funding source […]

Tens of thousands of stranded Qantas Airways passengers worldwide scrambled to reach their destinations Sunday after the airline abruptly grounded its global fleet over a dispute with striking workers. Australia’s government sought a court order to force the flagship carrier’s planes back in the air.
Australian officials expressed frustration over the sudden action by the world’s […]